Nifty ends above 8900, Sensex rises 100 pts; Axis Bank jumps 5%

3:30 pm Market Closing: Equity benchmarks retained its uptrend for the second consecutive session Tuesday, especially led by banks post Axis Bank merger talks and Reliance Industries after Reliance Jio tariff plans.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 100.01 points at 28761.59 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 28.65 points at 8907.85 but the market breadth was not that strong.

About 1553 shares advanced against 1277 declining shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Axis Bank surged 5 percent after sources told CNBC-TV18 that Kotak Mahindra Bank informally approached government seeking Axis Bank’s hand.

3:13 pm Interview: The bank’s executive director RK Gupta confirmed the report and told CNBC-TV18 that the aim of the strategy is to boost operating profits by cutting operating expenditure, and ease capital.

The exercise to identify the branches to be merged is still underway and there are no plans to merge rural branches, Gupta informed.

There are around 1,940 branches and around 300 branches are loss-making ones, he added.

3:00 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks as well as broader markets gained strength in last hour of trade after Axis Bank merger talks gathered steam.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 75.01 points to 28736.59 while the Nifty surpassed 8900 level, up 22.45 points at 8901.65.

The Nifty Midcap hit a record high 16479.40, up nearly a percent.

2:55 pm Axis Bank merger?: Sources told CNBC-TV18 that Kotak Mahindra Bank informally approached government seeking Axis Bank’s hand.

Its informal offer sparked interest from other private banks for Axis Bank, sources say.

Bankers, industry leaders reached out to government informally showing interest in Axis bank. HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank approached government informally w.r.t Axis Bank.

CNBC-TV18 reached out to Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC & government officials.

HDFC Bank said it did not comment on speculation. Kotak said it won’t comment on rumours while Axis Bank strongly denied merger talks.

Key secretaries in finance ministry said they had not heard of any deal talks on Axis Bank.

2:50 pm NBFC license: The Reserve Bank of India has granted a non-banking finance company license to company’s wholly owned subsidiary APM Finvest.

The board of directors of the company had in meeting held on January 29, 2016 decided to enter into the business of finance, lending and investment business through a wholly owned subsidiary and hence the company incorporated APM Finvest and applied for the NBFC license.

APM Industries shares surged more than 11 percent intraday.

2:40 pm Buzzing: Bank of Maharashtra shares rallied nearly 19 percent intraday after CNBC-TV18 reports quoting Cogencis that the bank merge branches & cut zonal offices in FY18.

The public sector bank may merge 450-500 loss-making branches in next financial year.

2:35 pm Credit Suisse says it likes Tech Mahindra as the revival in growth momentum is already visible and valuations are attractive. The stock gained 2 percent.

2:30 pm Economic growth: India’s millennial population is a massive disruptive force and driven by this supportive demographics alongwith government’s policy action, Indian economy is likely to reach USD 5 trillion by 2025, says a report.

India’s USD 2.2 trillion economy makes it the seventh largest in the world in terms of nominal GDP (and the third largest in PPP terms), but the country’s per capita income is less significant.

With a per capita income of USD 1,700, India ranks well behind some of the key emerging markets, like China, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico, and Turkey.

“We expect a confluence of supportive factors, led by demographics, government policy action, and globalisation, to lead to a sustained period of productive growth in the medium term,” Morgan Stanley said in a research note adding “in our base case, we expect the Indian economy to reach USD 5 trillion by FY2025.

2:25 pm Divestment: IDBI Bank shares gained little more than one percent intraday after the board approval for divestment of non-core investments.

“The board of directors of the bank, on February 21, has approved in-principle, the proposal to divest some of its non-core investments,” the state-run lender said in its filing.

The divestment is subject to compliance with all applicable laws and regulations and subject to final approval to be obtained for each transaction by Delegated Authority.

Analysts were hoping for some news on privatisation of the bank as the government indicated in the Union Budget 2017 but that did not discuss in this board meeting.

2:23 pm IOB gets new ED: Public sector Indian Overseas Bank today said K Swaminathan has been appointed as its Executive Director with immediate effect.

“In its notification, Government of India appointed K Swaminathan as Executive Director of our Bank and he assumed charge on February 17”, the city-headquartered bank said in a BSE filing.

2:21 pm USFDA inspection: Aurobindo Pharma shares gained more than 3 percent after sources told CNBC-TV18 that unit 11 inspection completed today with zero observations by US Food & Drug Administration.

Unit 11 is the largest API plant and is used primarily for captive consumption.

2:16 pm Ambani says Jio will cover 99 percent of India’s population by 2017-end.

The company has been building ‘Jio true 4G’ network for the past 6 years and has doubled Jio’s 4G stations as compared to peers in the market.

Ambani says Reliance will more than double Jio’s data capacity.

2:14 pm Idea Cellular fell 0.5 percent and Bharti Airtel lost 2 percent after Mukesh Ambani speech on future plans of Reliance Jio. However, Reliance Communications gained nearly 3 percent.

2:11 pm Reliance CMD Ambani says Jio prime members will get bouquet of Jio media services till March 31, 2018.

2:10 pm Jio prime members will continue to enjoy Happy New Year Offer at Rs Rs 303 per month.

2:07 pm Jio prime members will avail new year scheme benefits for another 12 months after enrollment for prime membership from March 1 at Rs 99, says Ambani.

2:06 pm Reliance Jio consumers consumed more han 100 crore GB data last month.

2:05 pm Mukesh Ambani says calls to all networks will remain free even after March 31.

2:03 pm Reliance Jio will start offering tariff plans starting from April 1 after the end of free services on March 31.

2:02 pm Reliance Jio has crossed 100 million subscribers in 170 days, which means it added nearly 7 customers every second in these days.

Also read – TCS buyback: Analysts hail move but see limited upside to stock

2:00 pm Market Check

Benchmark indices remained directionless in afternoon trade ahead of expiry of February futures & options contracts on Thursday.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 4.17 points at 28657.41 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 2.40 points to 8876.80 but the market breadth remained in favour of advances.

About 1489 shares advanced against 1190 declining shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Reliance Industries continued to support the market, up over 1 percent while Chairman and Managing Director speaking at Reliance Jio press conference.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries, the parent company of Reliance Jio, owns Network 18 that publishes